Safety valves or excess flow valves have been developed in the past for installation in gas piping systems to shut down the flow of gas whenever there is an excess flow of gas that may indicate a leak or other problem. For new gas piping systems, the system can be easily designed to accommodate the safety valves. However, to retrofit a safety valve into an existing gas piping system, the installation requires cutting the existing pipe and installing the safety valve in place of a length of pipe in the piping system.
Replacing sections of pipe can be cumbersome, particularly when the pipe is located in an inconvenient location. Furthermore, replacing sections of pipe can add a significant amount of labor cost to the installation. Thus, it is desirable to install the safety valve without having to replace sections of pipe in the piping system.
It is to solving these problems and others that the present invention is directed.